In 19th-century America almost anyone could print their own money – and many did. One of the most notable figures to take this up was James Brown, a charismatic conman who built a fortune producing fake banknotes.
Stephen Mihm, a professor of history at the University of Georgia, introduces The Story of Money hosts Gillian Tett and Robin Wigglesworth to ‘the hardest working man in counterfeiting,’ and they discuss the parallels between banking in the Wild West, the advent of cryptocurrencies today and the role that trust plays in all financial systems.
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